MEDAL ROUNDS DETERMINED AT BADMINTON NATIONALS

Day 2's Match of the Day featured some CCAA firepower as the match saw the Humber Polytechnic Hawks (OCAA 1) facing off against The King's University Eagles (ACAC 1). In a rare occurrence, the match saw student-athletes who have medaled every year they have played in the CCAA Badminton National Championships.

Humber Polytechnic's Jack Ronahan (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) owns three national medals to his name (MD 2019-20, XD 2021-22, and MD 2022-23) while his partner, Catherine Choi (Markham), is in her first year, while The King's University duo of Melissa Roque (Leduc County, Alta.) and Mahdi Ahmadi (Vancouver, B.C.) are the proud owners of three, having won Mixed Doubles in 2024-25 on their home court, and Ahmadi winning mixed doubles in 2023-24 at Seneca Polytechnic.

The opening game saw intense rallies where both duos pushed their opponents to the brink, with the Hawks opening up a 3-1 advantage before Roque and Ahmadi would rip off five straight points on their way to an 11-7 lead at the interval. With the score at 13-11 for the Eagles there was a rally that even Shakespeare himself would struggle to describe. Ronahan and Choi would find themselves playing strong defensive badminton with incredible gets to keep the rally going, before ultimately winning the lengthy rally to cut the lead. From there it would continue to be tightly contested with the teams finding themselves tied at 17 before the Hawks would open the gap to 19-17 on their way to a 21-18 win in the first game.

"Before we even got onto the court I went to Jack and told him we should treat this matchup like it is the finals," said Choi, a first-year business management student. "We wanted to treat it that way so if we do face them in the final it would feel familiar to us," added Ronahan, who is in his first year at Humber taking marketing.

Game 2 opened up with the Hawks taking a quick 6-2 lead which they would carry over to the 11-5 interval. TKU would cut the lead to 16-13, and with the Hawks leading 18-13 the fans in attendance and watching at home found themselves once more treated to an incredible display of badminton with both teams trading remarkable shots and athleticism with the Eagles getting the final blow, taking the point. Ronahan remarked, with a slight chuckle, that during the lengthy rallies all that really goes through your mind as a player is to "get the shuttle over and make them hit another shot." Humber would go on to win the second game 21-16 and the match 2-0. Ronahan and Choi were quick to give credit to Roque and Ahmadi following the match.

"They have been playing together for a while now, and won it all last year, so they know where each other will be on court," said Ronahan. "Melissa has really good control at the front court and Ahmadi does a great job controlling the back and mid."

The medal rounds have been set following completion of day two of the CCAA Badminton Championships.

Men's Singles

Timothy Lock (Humber Polytechnic) will look to defend his CCAA men's singles title against Arpi Sinha (Fanshawe College) in what will be a rematch of the OCAA final which saw Lock win 21-6, 21-14.

The bronze medal match will feature Vaibhav Bhatta (UNB Saint John) facing off against Mono Suttinon (SAIT). These two played in Round 3 of Day 1 with Suttinon coming away with a 21-16, 16-21, 21-3 victory.

Women's Singles

The CCAA women's singles gold medal game will be a rematch of Friday's round five match between Ritu Shah (UKC) and Rachel Chan (Humber Polytechnic). Chan took the initial match in convincing fashion against the three-time defending champion, and Shah will look to avenge that loss.

The bronze medal will be decided between Samantha Tran (NAIT) and Chincco Lai (Seneca Polytechnic). Tran won their initial matchup in this tournament.

Men's Doubles

Bosco Lai and Jordan Lau (Seneca Polytechnic) will battle Ethan Lee and Matthew Wong (NAIT) for the CCAA men's doubles gold medal. The duo from NAIT won their previous matchup during CCAA badminton nationals in three games, which should make for a great final.

The bronze medal match will feature Thao Le and Ty Nguyen (Fanshawe College) and Raphael Motel and Jonathan Su (CUE).

Women's Doubles

OCAA Player of the Year Shruti Joshi and her partner Sherry Wu (Humber Polytechnic) will look to take home the gold medal on Saturday. Standing in their way will be Nana Amnutkkittikul and Arhcelle Ouana.

Source: UNB Saint John Seawolves/CCAA Communications

Championship Website: www.ccaa.ca/sports/bmt/championship/index